Obsession

In 1959, affluent businessman Michael Courtland and his wife are celebrating their tenth anniversary when his daughter and wife are kidnapped and held for ransom. The effort to rescue the girl and her mother ends tragically, and Courtland merely exists, his days consumed with guilt. Many years later, still grieving over his loss, he returns to Florence, the city where he first met his wife, and he meets a young woman who bears a remarkable resemblance to her.

A complicated grift that is predicated on incest, OBSESSION drew me to it not only because of its showcase of the pre-TAXI DRIVER screenwriter work of Paul Schrader, but also because it features the penultimate score of the great Bernard Herrmann. The takeaway here for me is the bilious yellow that adorns the art on the DVD case. Bile is what this movie conveys.